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Panda Player Rangchu Wins Tekken World Tour 2018 Finals

POSTED BY Martin Patino ON December 5, 2018

The Tekken World Tour 2018 Finals saw 20 of the best Tekken 7 players battle it out for the title of world champion. And while last year’s champion Qudans once again made his way to the grand finals, his potential two-peat was ultimately stopped by fellow Korean Rangchu with one of the most unexpected characters – Panda and Kuma. While both aren’t particularly popular characters in the competitive Tekken 7 scene, Rangchu was able to make it work for him and win at the biggest stage of the year.

At the tournament, right after topping his group and ending up in the upper bracket of the Top 8, Rangchu would quickly be sent to the Losers’ Bracket by Knee. Interestingly, it was the only match in the Top 8 where Rangchu chose not to use either Panda or Kuma. This might have pushed him to stick to the two characters for the rest of the tournament, which ultimately proved to be the right choice.

Rangchu would go on to sweep fellow South Korean Tekken greats Jeondding and Chanel before facing Knee once again in the Losers’ Finals. Their second meeting ended up in favor of Rangchu this time as he was able to eliminate Knee 3-1, preventing the latter from enacting his own revenge against Qudans who had previously defeated Knee in the Winners’ Finals.

With momentum on his side, Rangchu was able to reset the Grand Finals bracket 3-1 against last year’s winner Qudans and his Devil Jin, who is widely considered to be one of the best characters in the game. While it wasn’t an easy match, Rangchu was ultimately able to defeat Qudans 3-1 to seal his title as world champion.

Rangchu not only goes home with USD 7,500 and the title of Tekken World Tour 2018 champion but he also makes history as the first Panda and/or Kuma player to win a tournament of this magnitude.